2013: The year of three-screen hospitality

Desktop, mobile device and tablet must be integrated in the hotel's multi-channel marketing strategy.

| By Max Starkov

Over the past few years, hoteliers have been embracing the mobile channel. Industry experts have projected staggering growth rates in leisure and unmanaged business travel bookings via the mobile channel: from $753 million in 2011 to $1.4 million in 2012, according to PhoCusWright research. And yet, a careful analysis of all the industry stats and projections reveals a very interesting picture that not all hoteliers fully understand: The majority of the mobile bookings, roomnights and revenue are generated by tablet devices, not by smartphones.

Mobile and tablet devices and their respective marketing and distribution channels should be treated as separate device categories. Three distinct device categories constitute the three screens to which hoteliers should pay special attention in 2013: desktop, mobile and tablet.